


Someone

by IAmAwesomeMe



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, Season 3 Spoilers, Take Notice Board, come back with a year long hiatus with starbucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 11:26:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmAwesomeMe/pseuds/IAmAwesomeMe
Summary: SEASON 3 SPOILER! DNI IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!!!!





	Someone

**Author's Note:**

> This is the story of what would have happened if Anne had said "someone" instead of "ruby" when talking to Gilbert about the take notice board. It will be a three part story. The first part is total fluff of Gilbert writing the note, the second will be a bunch of angst, and the third part will be a nice happy ending.

“If your interested in someone, let her know before someone else stakes their claim,” Anne said, hastily. Rushing to just get through it.

Gilbert straightened his spin. “Do you think someone else could?” he asked. “Stake their claim before I got a chance.”

“Well, they will if you keep waiting instead of acting,” Anne responded. “Now, I’m not saying that you have to, I’m just saying that it is something you should strongly consider, in addition to strongly considering the alternative and what place inaction would put you in.”

Gilbert nodded, deep in thought. “Good to know.”

Anne returned his nod and then returned to where Ruby was waiting.

“Did you see his face just then?” Ruby quietly rejoiced, jerking Anne out of her thoughts. “His eyes were so full of romance, I could have died of happiness right then and there.”

“His… eyes?” Anne wondered.

“Not to mention, he basically promised that he would post on by later today. I can’t wait!” She gleefully went back to her seat and Anne returned to her own, still deep in thought.

“What’s wrong?” Diana asked.

“Nothing,” Anne said quickly. “I just went over to Gilbert and asked him to post a take notice on Ruby's behalf,” she explained.

“Oh?” Diana pretended to act shocked, but had witnessed the whole thing. She had seen how her dear friend reacted when Gilbert started to talk about the future. “How was that.”

“I think it went very well,” Anne said. “Gilbert basically promised to write Ruby a note, which is good.”

Diana could sense some resentment when Anne spoke of Gilbert writing to Ruby, and the last line sounded more like Anne was trying to convince herself than informing Diana. Now, Diana knew exactly why Anne was acting like that, just as she knew that Anne didn’t know. But she also knew that if she were to mention her own hypothesis Anne would reject it without bothering to consider it. So Diana bit her tongue, and looked over to Gilbert, who had taken his seat, staring at Anne with the kind of eyes every girl wanted to be seen with. “I wonder whether he will,” she said.

“What? Why wouldn’t he?” Anne perked up.

“I don’t know,” Diana said, as casually as she could. “Just a hunch.”

Diana went back to preparing for the day’s lessons, but Anne sunk back into her thoughts. Why had she reacted so strangely to Gilbert? He started asking about what the take notice board was, and she made sure to emphasis that it was really nothing, so he would be casual about posting. And she felt fine. Then he started talking about the future, that if he posted it wouldn’t be casual at all. It would be because he really cared for ruby, cared about their future together. And for some reason she didn’t like that as much. Then he, well he basically asked her permission to post, which Anne didn’t like. For some unknown reason, she really didn’t like it. And after she heard it, she tried to end the conversation as soon as possible. But now that left her with another question: Why did that affect her so much?

She kept thinking it over in her head as Miss Stacey got in front of the class and started teaching. Anne tried to pay attention, but her mind was far away.

Across the class, Gilbert was also failing to pay attention. He kept thinking about Anne, talking about that Take Notice board. She spoke in a matter that was so… matter of fact. He had heard her talk about the colour of the grass with more romance in her eyes than when talking to him just then. He wondered if there was a reason for that. Perhaps the fact that this was real life, not her imagination, had mellowed her out. Perhaps she had already “spent” all her romantic energy. He hoped that wasn’t the case. Her eyes shown when she talked about the colour of the grass, and Gilbert loved to see that. Not that Gilbert loved her, certainly no. But there was a certain spark in her soul that couldn’t help but shine through and whenever he saw it, it made him feel like… like.. like there was still goodness in the world. Like there was a future. Like the world was full of possibilities for him. Possibilities for hope, and joy, and, well, love. Ok, maybe Bash was right. Maybe he did love her.

He looked back at her. She was looking down at her slate deep in thought. She was so busy concentrating on the lesson, she completely ignored him. It reminded him of their first day they met, and he smiled. Something had compelled him to give her the apple. Was that love too? He didn’t know. And to be honest he didn’t really know. The only thing he knew was that he did love her now. And that he loved her too.

At least, he thought she did. Why else would she ask him to post a take notice? Was it like she said? Was someone else going to claim their stake if he didn’t? Surely she wanted him to post because she said so.

Still, Gilbert couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t a “take notice” kind of guy. When he imagined talking to Anne it wouldn’t be through these ancient courtship rituals designed to keep the people together yet apart because they don’t actually talk with each other. He wanted to talk with Anne, become close to her, friends with her, then, eventually, ask her if she wanted to progress the relationship further. Through actual conversation, not posting notes so they don’t ever have to genuinely speak with one another. He didn’t like that idea, but it was clearly what Anne wanted.

Gilbert, as quietly as he could, got out a piece of paper. He noticed other boys had done the same. With the news of the take notice board spreading, many boys wanted to make notices of their own. He also heard a small gasp from the girl’s side of the room. He looked back, and found Ruby and Josie whispering to each other, pointing at his attempts to take the paper out of his bag as quietly as possible. Gilbert didn’t really think much of it, taking the paper and putting it on his desk, then putting his slate on top of it to hid it from Miss Stacey.

No, he shouldn’t do this to Miss Stacey. He should pay attention to her, since he was after all his teacher. He set down his quill and grabbed his piece of chalk, following the lesson. It was algebra now. He did his work, paying attention to Miss Stacey instructions with his mind ever so often wandering to the piece of paper beneath his slate, still waiting to receive his love note for Miss Shirley-Cuthbert.

After algebra, it was time for geography. When Anne got up to say the names of the maritime provinces, Gilbert could swear he heard her saying something about nice boys and their dieting habits. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory.

After Geometry, they moved onto readings. Anne was dramatic, as always, though her readings were plagued with a little more confusion than normal. He looked over to see if anyone else was paying attention. None of the boys were, far too busy writing their own notices to post.

Gilbert looked down at his own paper, the bottom peeking from underneath his reader. He should write something, right? Anne told him to, so he will. He dipped his pen in ink, and hovered it over the page in anticipation, trying to think of what to put down. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He set down his pen, still debating in his head whether he should write anything at all. He knew that everyone else would write one, but something was still holding him back.

He guessed that maybe the whole reason he didn’t want it was because it all just felt too childish. He was a man. If he wanted to tell a girl he liked her, he will. Then again, He’s liked this girl for a while and hasn’t exactly done anything about it. Maybe acting a bit childish was better than not acting at all.

Once more, he looked down at the paper sticking out from beneath his reader. Tentatively, he brought his quill back down to his paper.

“_Gilbert Blythe would like to marry Anne Shirley-Cuthbert one day_”

He looked down at the piece of paper and smiled. He hadn’t really realised it was true until he had written it but now that it was written he knew that it had always been true. And now he wanted to yell it from the roof tops. He loved Anne, and wanted to marry Anne, and wanted to live the rest of his life by her side.

The he looked over to Anne, who was following along with her reader. She had the same look on her face that she had when she had to figure out algebra or geometry. Like there was a big question that was just circling around her mind, unable to find a solution, unable to stop until she found one.

Suddenly, he knew he couldn’t post this. It was far to forward, far to direct. He crossed the line out and wrote below it “_Gilbert Blythe would like to walk Anne home_” then promptly crossed that out too. He didn’t want to just walk her home, he’s already walked her home plenty of times as a friend. He wanted to do something bigger, something that will strictly demarcate the difference in friend-Gilbert and courting-Gilbert. Plus, he was also kinda needed at home and didn’t want to cause Mary and Bash problems by not being there when they needed him. No, he won’t walk her home. Or, he will try to look for something better and save that in case he can't find anything.

He tried his best, but couldn’t think of anything else. He just kept staring at that half-empty page, trying to find the perfect words. Anne was so good with words, she deserves the perfect words for herself.

He kept staring at the page until Miss Stacey called it time for lunch. Gilbert thought back and realised that he hadn’t actually learned anything that entire morning, which in unusual for him. Normally, he would love to learn things but this morning? Absolutely nothing. Still, it could be worst. He could be Billy, who’s never learned anything in school. Actually, speaking of the other boys in class…

Gilbert whirled around. “Hey, guys,” he spoke to the boys behind him, “can I get some advice?”

“What do you need?” Moody asked. All the other boys leaned in too. Gilbert usually never received help of any sort, much less asked for it, so this was very rare indeed.

“What are you guys… writing?” he asked.

“For the poetry assignment?” Charlie asked.

“No,” Gilbert clarified. “What are you writing for your, umm, notices.”

The boys all raised an eyebrow. In addition to never much asking for advice, Gilbert also never really showed any interest in any particular girl. This was very particular behaviour indeed. All the boys made eye contact to assure that they were all on the same page about the next line of questioning.

“So, who’s the girl?” Charlie asked.

“She’s,” Gilbert smiled over to the girl’s side, trying to find the words to express what’s in is heart. “She’s something else.”

“But, like, a name?” Moody inquired.

“Uhh, I’m going to keep that one secret for now,” Gilbert didn’t really want to distract everyone with the particulars of his relationship. “I just need advice about what to say.”

“Well, I’m saying that she looks really nice today,” Paul volunteered.

“I’m saying that something similar,” the other Paul agreed.

“Yeah, most of us are just paying the girls compliments.” Moody said.

Gilbert nodded, but it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. “Thank you,” he addressed the gathered group, then turned back to his desk. He put away his reader, but continued to stare at the mostly empty page. Frustrated, he left it there and went to the back to get his lunch. He brought it to his desk and continued to ponder the note.

“_Gilbert Blythe_” he wrote, and kept thinking it over and over in his mind. Gilbert Blythe Gilbert Blythe, Gilbert Blythe.

“_Gilbert Blythe wants_” he added. Wants what? What does he want?

“_Gilbert Blythe wants to tell Anne Shirley-Cuthbert_” but stopped again. What did he want to say?

He had no idea what to do. No idea what to say. He needed a poet’s help. No, he needed a writer’s help.

He slid off his seat and walked over to where Anne was sitting comfortably in the room besides Miss Stacey’s office with Diana. “Hey, Anne, do you think you could help me out?”

“Uhm, with what?” Anne asked.

Gilbert kneeled down by Anne. “I’m trying to write” you a love letter “the poetry assignment,” Gilbert only slightly lied. “And I’m getting really stuck. How do you continue to write when you have no idea what to write?”

“Well, you do just that,” Anne replied. “You write.”

Gilbert was a bit stumped. “Yeah, but what do you mean by that?”

“If you can’t write, you have to just write. Don’t think it has to be perfect, or good, or even legible. You just need to write it out. As many different ways that you need, just write it. You can so back and edit it later, making it good and then perfect. But that’s not what you should focus on right now. Because right now you just need to write, to get it out there. Quality is a question for tomorrow.”

“That’s,” Gilbert considered it, “really good advice. And surprisingly poetic too. Thank you.” He left the room and went back to his desk.

He opened his lunch and ate the sandwich Mary prepared his as he pondered what to write and prepared the pen. It hovered over his page and waited for Gilbert to think of something to write to finish the sentence. He started to get in his head again, but just told himself to follow Anne’s advice and just write.

“_Gilbert Blythe wants to tell Anne Shirley-Cuthbert that she looks pretty_,” he finished.

That doesn’t look right. Edit, Anne told him. So he did.

“_Gilbert Blythe wants to tell Anne Shirley-Cuthbert that her hair looks exceptionally beautiful_.” But that didn’t look right either.

“_Gilbert Blythe wants to tell Anne Shirley-Cuthbert that her hair looked angelic in the morning sunlight_.” But still something about it felt off. It felt too cheap, too artificial.

“_Gilbert Blythe wants to tell Anne Shirley-Cuthbert that she is the smartest person in the class_.” Now that just seems patronizing. He had no idea how to continue

He quickly ate the rest of his sandwich, then went back to see Anne again.

“Anne?” Gilbert tentatively asked. “I’m trying to work on it like you said but I’m still having problems.”

“What are the problems?” Anne asked, motioning for Gilbert to sit beside her.

“I’m working on editing, but something still seems off,” Gilbert started to explain, but Diana interrupted him.

“Isn’t the poetry assignment supposed to be 14 lines?” Diana wondered. “How could you have written it so quick?”

“I’m a quick writer,” Gilbert said.

“And a quick editor, I assume,” Diana had a smile on her face that Gilbert couldn’t place. “Unless you are planning something much shorter. A single line, perhaps?”

Gilbert looked over to Anne. Luckily, she was too lost in thought to have noticed Diana’s comment. “Um, anyway. Anne, do you have any advice.”

“Well, it is possible that the problem isn’t in the writing itself but in the concept. One time I was having trouble finishing the story, because the relationship wouldn’t have really made sense. But then I backed up, looked at the overarching concept, and realised that if the characters were childhood friends before the adventure started and realised that that way their closeness would make a lot more sense. The story practically wrote itself after that. So maybe you need to take a step back and examine it and see if it’s a problem in concept, not execution.”

Gilbert nodded, and went to go back to his seat. He sat there and ate his apple as he looked at the now nearly-full page of writing. He kept eating his apple as he tried to think about the flaw in his original concept. The concept was writing Anne a note. But Gilbert couldn’t find a flaw in that. So, he narrowed it a bit. The concept was writing Anne a compliment. Was there something wrong with that? It did feel a bit childish and he didn’t like that. Maybe that was the problem, that his note shouldn’t be just a complement. He wanted to do something more, an actual gesture. But he had no idea what to do besides that.

He kept thinking this through, when his eyes fell to the sweet apple in his hand. Suddenly, he had a wonderful idea. Quick as he could, he finished the rest of his lunch, then ran out the door, quickly telling Charlie “I have to go home for a second. If class starts, can you cover for me?”

“Sure,” Charlie said. “Where are you going?”

“Home!” Gilbert said, leaving the room and closing the door firmly behind him. Josie and Ruby were walking up the steps as he walked down. He politely tipped his hat at them before continuing his way home.

“Did you see that?” Ruby asked Josie. “He nodded at me. He fully nodded at me!”

“Oh, I saw.” Josie had never believed that Gilbert had a crush of Ruby, no matter what ruby claimed to the contrary. And even now, she didn’t believe it but she was concerned that the way Gilbert was acting would make Ruby believe it even more and that would just cause problems.

“He nodded at me,” Ruby said, walking in on Diana and Anne. “As he was walking out the door, he nodded at me.”

“Do you know where he was going?” Diana asked, as Tillie and Jane followed them into the room from where they were eating lunch in the big school room.

“Didn’t have a chance to ask,” Ruby said. “But I’m still thinking about how he nodded at me. And with what he and Anne were talking about earlier before school, I’m fully convinced he will write me a take notice.”

“Well, did you hear what he was asking the other boys about?” Tillie asked.

“No,” Ruby said, “what did he ask?”

“He asked for advice,” Jane said. “He asked what everyone else was writing on their take notices, so he could write his.”

Ruby gasped, then squealed with joy. “I knew it! He loves me! He loves me the way I love him!”

Anne sized Ruby up and down. She wanted to be happy for her friend, but there was something in the pit of her stomach, holding her back from it. Why the hell was she feeling this way today? Was it something she ate?

Diana looked over to where her friend had a puzzled look on her face. No, not puzzled. Hurt.

“Hey Anne,” Diana whispered to her friend, “do you want to go for a walk?”

Anne looked into her friend’s eyes and nodded. They got up and left. They decided to walk across the field, then into the forest. By the time they were just entering the forest, they were well and truly alone.

“So,” Diana started. “What’s going on with you?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Anne confessed. And she meant it.

“Well, how do you feel?” They were walking aimlessly around the entrance to the forest.

“Bad? I guess?”

“What do you feel bad about?”

“I don’t know.”

Diana looked at her friend. For a genius she was really pretty stupid. Maybe Diana couldn’t tell her outright what was happening, but if Diana didn’t help her friend come to the realization, she was never going to. “When did these bad feelings start?”

“I guess, when class starts.”

“After you talked to Gilbert, you mean,” Diana pointed out.

“Yeah.”

“And Gilbert said he would post a take notice,” she added.

“Yes.”

“But you felt fine for the rest of class, right?”

“I mean, my stomach was in knots but it didn’t get any worst.”

“And when Gilbert came over to talk to you about writing, how was that?”

Anne smiled. “It was nice. I loved helping him. And Gilbert is always so kind and helpful, it felt really good to be helping him in return.”

“And when Ruby talked about how Gilbert was going to write her a take notice?”

“I felt utterly nauseous,” Anne confessed.

“So, you didn’t like when you didn’t like it when you thought Gilbert was writing Ruby a take notice, and then again when Ruby talked about receiving Gilbert’s future take notice,” Diana pointed out. “Anything in common between those two experiences?”

Anne thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think so,” she concluded.

Diana wanted to scream at her obtuse friend. “Nothing at all?” she asked again.

“No.” Anne and Diana continued wandering around the edge of the forest.

Diana sighed, then decided it was best to take a step back. “You said you felt nauseous. Is it possible you also felt hurt?”

“Hurt by what, exactly?”

“Maybe not hurt,” Diana admitted. “But maybe jealous?”

“Jealous? Of whom?”

“Well, you felt it whenever Ruby talks about receiving Gilbert’s take notice.”

“I am not jealous of Ruby,” Anne insisted.

“I don’t think that either,” Diana added. “I think that jealousy is only the side-product of another emotion.”

“What?”

“Well, how did you feel when Gilbert talked to you?”

“It was really nice,” Anne remembered. “I always love talking to him.”

Diana looked at her friend with the most knowing look.

“No,” her friend insisted, walking away. “No, no, no, no, no.”

“Why else would you hate it when Ruby talks about Gilbert but love it, you’re words not mine,” Diana quickly responded to her friends stink-eye, “when Gilbert talks to you.”

“I do not love him,” Anne insisted again. “If I did I would have been uncomfortable a long time ago when Ruby first mentioned the crush. Why is this just happening now?”

“Well, maybe your crush grew slowly so you didn’t like him before,” Diana offered. “Or maybe because it was only hypothetical before but know with the take notice board it’s all becoming real.”

“No, I hate it,” Anne insisted. “I hate love. It’s caused me nothing but upset so far. I want out. I want out of love.”

“You will not feel like that in a second,” Diana insisted. “Listen, I have something very important to tell you, something about Gilbert. But first, I need you to admit it.”

“Admit what?” Anne asked.

“Admit that you have feelings for Gilbert.” They stopped walking, pausing just besides a bush on the very edge of the forest.

Anne looked her friend in the eyes. She didn’t want these feelings, but she had to admit they were there. She sighed deeply. “Fine,” she agreed. She looked at her friend’s face, bright with anticipation. “I,” she started, “like,” her friend shook her head, and Anne knew it was a lie too. “Alright. I love G-” The word was barely out of her mouth when a figure came barrelling out of the woods, running full tilt through the thicket, and tackled Anne to the ground. Anne tried to understand what happened and looked up to see who it was that had ran into her. “Gilbert?” she was shocked to find his face inches from her own, his eyes staring into hers.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, getting off of her. “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s fine,” she said, accepting Diana’s hand to help her to her feet.

“I really am sorry.” Gilbert stood up as well. “Are you hurt?”

“Just a bit dirty,” Anne said.

“Why were you running?” Diana asked, as Anne got to work dusting herself off.

“I had to run back to the farm to fetch something and I didn’t want to be late for when school started back up again,” Gilbert explained. “Do you know if the bell has been sounded again?”

“We haven’t really been paying it much attention,” Anne confessed.

The three of them looked back at the school house. There wasn’t a single kid outside. They all looked at each other, quickly realizing that no kids outside meant they were all inside, meant that the school bell had run and they hadn’t noticed.

They took off down the hill like a rocket, not wanting to miss class and have to stay after school. Technically, Anne and Gilbert were tied for fastest in the class. They had a footrace just between them last Easter after Anne tried to get into the official race but they didn’t let her because she was a girl. Gilbert decided to race her afterwards and lost, but then wanted a rematch and won that one, after which they both bragged about beating the other one in the footrace. But, Gilbert had already run most of the way from the Blythe orchard, so he was slower than usual, keeping pace with Diana instead of Anne.

Anne was the first through the door, and saw Charlie standing in front of the rest of the class. “I’m just saying, maybe instead of History, we should focus on Reading right now,” he was saying nervously.

“We already did that this morning,” Miss Stacey explained, and the class gave a small laughter.

“Maybe, uhh, maybe we need more... Oh thank god, there he is,” Charlie look back and saw Gilbert and Diana appearing behind Anne. Everyone else looked back too and saw the three of them arriving late. Gilbert hung his head, slightly laughing, mostly exasperated. He thought that since Charlie liked to be the class clown he could keep Miss Stacey distracted while they snuck in. However, Charlie was also a bit of an idiot.

“Anne, Gilbert, Diana,” Miss Stacey addressed them. “Thank you for joining us.”

“Sorry, Miss,” the three of them muttered.

“It’s fine. Please take off your coats and join the rest of the class.”

They nodded, and proceeded to go to their hangers, taking off their scarfs and mittens, then coats. As Gilbert took off his coat, an apple fell out of his pocket and rolled across the floor, hitting Anne’s foot.

She bent down and picked it up. “Here, you dropped this,” she said, offering it to Gilbert.

Gilbert looked at her holding the apple, and couldn’t hold back a small smile. “Y’know,” he told her, “someday we are going to laugh at the irony of you handing me this apple.” He took it with a smile on his face.

Anne was confused but didn’t really think anything of it. She followed Diana back to her desk as Miss Stacey started talking about the war of 1812.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to write the next chapter, but I also have a story in my head about Anne and Gilbert doing some other stuff so I want to write that before returning to this.


End file.
